Daniel Farke is warning his Norwich City squad not to let their standards drop.

The Canaries narrowly missed out on a fourth consecutive clean sheet for the first time in 23 years when Brentford grabbed a scant consolation in City’s midweek 3-1 League Cup win.

Norwich’s last-16 date at Premier League Arsenal had long since been sealed, but the sour late twist at Griffin Park was a timely reminder for Farke.

“Normally I am really angry with such a situation,” he said. “If it was a league game I would be pretty angry and screaming to the walls because each and every goal counts. In the cup it is just about the next round but sometimes you need a reminder. I hope not too early in a game, but at Brentford it came very late and I can live with it because it is always a reminder to stay awake, although you are so dominant. You have to do the basics to be there and be 100pc awake in each and every situation. To get this reminder in a game we led 3-0 in the cup I can live with it.

“I like these do-or-die games and to be able to have a cup run. To be fair to the lads this is now a cup run and it is a really good success to be in the last 16 with some big teams, but we want to go further on. It doesn’t help with the load, compared with some other teams in our league, but like I said before the game if we didn’t want to be in it we would have sent a postcard to Brentford and said we stay at home. For me the cup has the same importance as the league.”

City look to stretch their four-game unbeaten run against Bristol City this weekend but Farke is adamant there is plenty to work on for him and his players.

“As a coach you always have to be open-minded to try and learn each game, win or lose,” he said. “Football is fluent and never stops developing. When you get to a point where you think you know everything about the game and you are not able to be flexible in the way you work that is a point you have to stop working in this business. That is the most important thing.

“For me, it is not about the age of a manager but the will to be open and improve every single day. The work in Germany is not so different. If you were in their second league they would say you have to win the one-versus-one duels, defend well, work hard. We don’t speak so much about philosophy, it is about results.”